NOAA Fisheries News Releases
NEWS RELEASE
January 5, 2007
Sheela McLean
(907) 586-7032
NOAA Fisheries releasing final document on groundfish harvest
NOAA Fisheries has released the Alaska Groundfish Harvest Specifications Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for a 30-day review period. The document examines projected environmental impacts of alternative harvest strategies for the groundfish fisheries of the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, including pollock, Pacific cod, rockfish, and flatfish.
"This document provides the basis for NOAA Fisheries to make decisions about the harvest strategy and the annual harvest specifications for the Alaska groundfish fisheries," said Doug Mecum, Acting Administrator for the Alaska Region of NOAA Fisheries. "We hope people will take time to study the document and give us their thoughts during the review period. NOAA Fisheries will review and consider all comments before issuing the Record of Decision. We plan to issue the Record of Decision in February, 2007."
The FEIS provides decision-makers and the public with an evaluation of the environmental, social, and economic effects of alternative harvest strategies for the federally managed groundfish fisheries in Alaska. The FEIS examines alternative harvest strategies that comply with federal regulations, fishery management plans and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The harvest strategies use the best available scientific information to derive the harvest specifications for the groundfish fisheries.
Each year, the Secretary of Commerce makes decisions about harvest specifications for the groundfish fisheries based on the recommendations of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. The harvest specifications--while providing for orderly and controlled commercial fishing for groundfish--promote sustainable incomes to the fishing, fish processing, and support industries; support sustainable fishing communities; and provide sustainable flows of fish products to consumers. The harvest specifications balance groundfish harvests with ecosystem needs (such as target and non-target fish stocks, marine mammals, seabirds, and habitat).
The FEIS can be downloaded electronically or a printed copy can be requested from www.fakr.noaa.gov/analyses/specs/eis/default.htm
NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) is dedicated to protecting and preserving our nation’s living marine resources through scientific research, management, enforcement, and the conservation of marine mammals and other protected marine species and their habitat. To learn more about NOAA Fisheries in Alaska, please visit our websites at www.fakr.noaa.gov or at www.afsc.noaa.gov
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